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Biology in Society: Critical Thinking

( CCT611, Sp 99-- Seminar in Critical Thinking -- CCT645, Sp03)

(9/99 -- see appended 9/01 update)
Initial Goals
This seminar was based on case studies and activities from an undergraduate "Biology and Society" course I had taught several times. My goals were to adapt it to the CCT/GCOE setting, by leading students to
address the course material on a number of levels: as an opportunity to learn the science and interpretive approaches; as models for your own teaching; and as a basis for discussions about practices and philosophies of education, construed broadly as a project of stimulating greater citizen involvement in scientific debates.
To this end I was more explicit than I had been before about my conceptual and pedagogical themes (see "Overview of course themes").

Challenges and Responses
The students' prior training in biology was varied and, with one exception, not recent. As a consequence the class meetings operated mostly on the first level. In any case, more than 2.5 hours per week would have been needed and/or fewer topics, in order to make room for serious discussion of teaching and educational philosophy.

Future Plans
Over the next few years I plan to prepare the cases for a book and website. While doing so I expect to see ways to fashion classes that would fit in the time available and to prepare reading material that brings students up to steam in the relevant biology. As I develop new cases, e.g., one on gestational programming, I will have to drop others. I intend, however, the mix of cases to cover the four broad angles of interpretation, namely, "scientists' historical location, economic and political interests, use of language, and ideas about causality and responsibility."
I also plan to emphasize the lesson plan option for students' projects, which will, I expect, stimulate more discussion of teaching and educational philosophy.

Update
(9/01)
For implementation of these plans in my science-STS teaching, see CCT640, Environment, Science, and Society (Sp 01) and CCT611, Making Sense of Numbers (F 01)
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